By Liz Shepherd
InkFreeNews

Jammy Stacy

WARSAW — An Elkhart woman sentenced to 16 years in prison after a child suffered life-threatening injuries while in her care has filed an appeal against her sentence.

Jammy Stacy, 43, 611 E. Carlton Ave., Elkhart, was sentenced in Kosciusko Superior Court One on Aug. 31 for neglect of a dependent resulting in serious bodily injury, a level 3 felony. During a three-day jury trial in August, Stacy was found guilty.

Stacy is currently serving her sentence in the Rockville Correctional Facility, with a projected release date of Aug. 4, 2032.

On March 2, 2018, Nappanee Police responded to a report of a child in need of service at 1200 N. Main St. Apartment 103, Nappanee. Upon arrival, officers discovered an injured boy in need of medical attention.

One day earlier, Stacy and her mother, Annette Priestley, dropped the child off at Rune Springer’s residence with visible injuries all over his body. In this case, Priestley received a suspended sentence in December on a misdemeanor obstruction of justice charge.

Springer is the child’s biological mother; she and the child’s stepfather, Travis Tillotson, both received suspended sentences after failing to report to authorities that the child was malnourished and injured.

Medical staff at Parkview Hospital in Fort Wayne said the child had visible injuries in many stages of healing, showing injuries occurred over an extended time period.

The child had multiple pieces of his scalp missing, ranging from 1/2 inch to 2 inches. His septum on his nose had been cut out, and what appeared to be fingernail marks were dug into his left cheek and scabbed over. Both of the child’s arms were broken in multiple places and his arm sockets were broken to the point where the child was unable to raise his hands over his shoulders. The child was also underweight and malnourished. His injuries appeared to range from several months old to a few days old.

In October 2017, Springer had taken the child to live with Stacy at her Etna Green residence. Stacy said she was the sole caregiver for the child from October 2017 to March 1, 2018. She said the child would spend the night occasionally with her aunt, Fayette Robinette, who received a suspended sentence in October on a misdemeanor failure to make a report charge.

Stacy said she knew she should have gotten the child medical attention for his injuries and would have if the injuries happened to her own son.

The 11-page appellant’s brief was filed Dec. 4. Stacy’s legal counsel in the jury trial, Mari Duerring, is also representing her through the appeal process. In the brief, Duerring argues that evidence presented in court against Stacy was not sufficient enough to prove that Stacy’s failure to seek medical care for the child created a situation that caused serious bodily injury. The argument also states there was no evidence presented in court that proved Stacy caused the child’s injuries.

Duerring notes that the state was required to prove beyond a reasonable doubt that Stacy knowingly placed the child in a situation that endangered their life or health.

She lists an example of a case in which the Indiana Court of Appeals upheld that the state is required to prove the defendant had a “subjective awareness” in defining “knowingly” conduct in the context of a child neglect statute.

The brief categorizes the child’s injuries as neurological, skeletal, soft tissue and nutritional. Dr. Jayesh Patel, the director of the pediatric intensive care unit at Parkview Hospital, testified that the child suffered from a subdural hematoma discovered via CAT scan; however. Dr. Patel also testified the child’s initial neurological examination on March 2, 2018, was normal.

Duerring argues that the child suffering from a subdural hematoma was not subjectively apparent and that no medical intervention was needed to treat the injury since it was healing on its own. The same argument is used for the child’s skeletal injuries.

“There is no proof beyond a reasonable doubt that Stacy would have been subjectively aware of such injuries, nor is there evidence beyond a reasonable doubt that would establish that Stacy’s failure to take (the child) in for medical care was ‘conduct that placed (the child) in a situation that endangered his life or health,'” read the brief.

Ultimately, the brief argues that evidence was insufficient in proving that Stacy was subjectively aware that failure to provide medical care or proper food to the child would have caused serious bodily injury. The brief asks the Court of Appeals to vacate the judgment and conviction for a Level 3 neglect of a dependent felony charge and enter one for a Level 6 felony instead, also arguing the case be remanded for resentencing.